Comment on What caused you to wake up? by j.k.harwood2

Parent Post: What caused you to wake up?

j.k.harwood2 · 2/26/2025, 5:58:43 AM · permalink

As a kid, I looked up to government officials—police, military, all of them. To me, they were heroes.

Then, on my 18th birthday, I got drunk for the first time. Late that night, some friends and I were walking when a cop stopped us. He smelled alcohol and took us to jail.

In the drunk tank, it was cold. Everyone had a blanket. Then, they threw in another guy—some loud-mouthed kid wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. He sat on the freezing concrete floor for a while before finally getting up and calling for a CO.

I sat there, pretending not to watch as the officer came to the door. The kid told him he was freezing and needed a blanket. The CO just said "No," slid the door shut, and walked away. The kid kicked the door and yelled "F\* you!"\*\* It echoed down the hall.

He sat back down, arms wrapped around himself, shivering. Five minutes passed. Maybe longer. Then heavy footsteps approached. The slot in the door slid open, and a big, mustached CO stuck his face in.

"You. Come here."

The kid got up and walked to the door. They opened it and pulled him out. The steel door slammed shut behind him. We couldn't see what happened next, but we could hear it.

The original CO asked, "Now, what did you need?"

The kid answered, "Man, I just need a blanket. Everyone else has one, and I'm freezing."

Then the other voice said, "Ask him."

"Can I get a blanket?"

The next sound was the smack of flesh on flesh, followed by hollow thuds as his body bounced off bars and walls. The beating went on for a long time.

A few days later, I had been moved to an inmate housing area. That same kid got brought in, but he was barely recognizable. His head was swollen like a pumpkin, his arm in a sling, ribs taped. His entire back was covered in boot prints. Not an inch of his body wasn’t bruised or cut.

He said they charged him with disorderly conduct and assault on an officer. His paperwork claimed he fought an inmate in the drunk tank and then attacked a guard when they tried to take him out.

That was the moment I realized my so-called heroes weren’t all good guys.

Over the years, I saw it in different ways. Maybe not always as brutal, but the abuse of power, the lies to cover their own backs—it was always there. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

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